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Alberto Kenya Fujimori (born July 28, 1938) was president
of Peru from July 28, 1990, until November 17, 2000, when he fled to Japan
as allegations of far-reaching corruption in his administration began to
emerge. From Japan, he submitted his resignation by fax, but the Peruvian
Congress rejected his resignation and removed him from office.
Early years: Fujimori was born in Lima to Naoichi Fujimori and
Mutsue Inomoto, natives of Kumamoto who moved to Peru in 1934. He was
trained as an agricultural engineer. Before being elected president, he was
rector of the National University La Molina and then later president of the
National commission of Peruvian University Rectors (Asamblea Nacional de
Rectores), a position that he occupied twice.
A dark horse candidate, Fujimori won the 1990 presidential election with his
new party Cambio 90, beating the world-renowned writer Mario Vargas Llosa in
a surprising upset. He capitalized on profound disenchantment with the
previous president of Peru, Alan García and his APRA party. He also
exploited distrust of Vargas Llosa's identification with the existing
Peruvian political establishment and distrust of his carefully-reasoned
campaign promises for neoliberal economic reform. Since the campaign, he was
affectionately nicknamed el chino ("the Chinaman"). Most observers believe
his Japanese descent benefited Fujimori as much of the population is of
Native American-descent, and his ethnicity helped set him apart from the
Spanish-dominated political elites.
First term: During his first term in office, Fujimori's economic
strategy, which Peruvians dubbed Fujishock, bore no resemblance to the
vague, populist program set out during the campaign under the slogan "Work,
technology, honesty". Under close tutelage of the IMF, Fujimori embarked
upon tough and wide-ranging economic reforms — far more drastic than
anything Vargas Llosa had proposed — resulting in Peru's much-needed
reinsertion in the global economy, from which it had become estranged during
the García administration. Spurred on by the IMF, Fujimori went on a
privatization binge, selling off hundreds of state-owned enterprises, many
in hasty and badly-organized privatizations. Of the estimated US$9 billion
raised in the process, only a small part ever benefited the Peruvian people;
much of the money raised disappeared in Fujimori's patronage machine.
Although Fujishock brought macroeconomic stability and a brief upturn in the
mid 1990s (economic growth exceeded twelve percent in 1994), it did so at
tremendous social cost; it generated massive poverty and pushed Peru's
economy into a deep recession from which it has yet to recover.
Self-coup: On April 5, 1992, Fujimori mounted a self-coup (in
Spanish: autogolpe), a coup d'etat against his own government. His goals
were thought to have been:
1) the dissolution of the Parliament and setting up a subservient Congress
(Congreso Constituyente Democrático) for the purpose of amending the
constitution and ensuring his reelection
2) the co-optation of the judiciary and the curtailment of the
constitutional rights by state-of-emergencies and curfews
3) the total annihilation of the rebels, including supporters and
relatives, by means of the death squads
There was little initial domestic resistance to the self-coup. An opinion
poll performed shortly thereafter indicated that Fujimori's decision to
dissolve Congress and restructure the judicial system had a seventy-three
percent approval rating. The economic and political situation was so poor at
the time that for many Peruvians things could only get better. At the time,
Fujimori's bold and risky economic reforms (Fujishock) appeared to be
working.
The international reaction to the self-coup was predictably negative.
International financial organizations delayed planned or projected loans,
and the United States government suspended all aid to Peru other than
humanitarian assistance, as did Germany and Spain. Venezuela broke off
diplomatic relations, and Argentina withdrew its ambassador. Chile joined
Argentina in requesting that Peru be suspended from the Organization of
American States. The coup appeared to threaten the economic recovery
strategy of reinsertion and complicated the process of clearing arrears with
the IMF.
Even before the coup, relations with the United States had been strained
because of Fujimori's reluctance to sign an accord that would increase
United States and Peruvian military efforts in eradicating coca fields.
Although Fujimori eventually signed the accord in May, 1991, in order to get
desperately needed aid, the disagreements did little to enhance bilateral
relations. The Peruvians saw drugs as primarily a United States problem, and
the least of their concerns, given the economic crisis, Shining Path, and an
outbreak of cholera, which further isolated Peru, due to the resulting ban
on food imports.
However, two weeks after the self-coup , the Bush administration backed off
and officially recognized Fujimori as the legitimate leader of Peru. The OAS
and United States agreed that Fujimori's self-coup may have been extreme,
but they did not want to see Peru return to the deteriorating state that it
had been in before. In fact, the self-coup came not long after the US
government and media had launched a media offensive against Shining Path
('Sendero Luminoso', SL), a rural guerilla movement. On March 12, 1992,
Undersecretary of State for Latin American Affairs Bernard Aronson told the
US Congress: "The international community and respected human rights
organizations must focus the spotlight of world attention on the threat
which Sendero poses." "Latin America has seen violence and terror, but none
like Sendero's... and make no mistake, if Sendero were to take power, we
would see this century's third genocide" [after Nazi Germany and Cambodia].
Given Washington's concerns, long-term repercussions for the self-coup
turned out to be modest.
Fujimori himself claimed the self-coup was necessary to break with the
deeply entrenched interests which were hindering him from rescuing Peru from
the chaotic state in which García had left it. But critics say he never
could have implemented the drastic ultraliberal economic reforms in a
democratic government.
Later in the year, on November 13, there was a failed military coup led by
General Salinas. Fujimori sought temporary refuge in the Japanese Embassy.
In 1994, Fujimori separated from wife Susana Higuchi (also of Japanese
descent) in a noisy, "public" divorce, formally stripping her of the title
First Lady in August 1994. He thereupon appointed their elder daughter First
Lady. Higuchi publicly denounced Fujimori as a tyrant and his administration
as corrupt.
Second term: In April 1995, at the height of his popularity, Fujimori
was re-elected in a landslide victory over Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the
former Secretary General of the United Nations. His independent party won
control of the legislature.
During his second term, Fujimori signed a peace agreement with Ecuador, with
which Peru had territorial differences in the Amazon basin for more than a
century, thereby allowing the two countries to obtain international funds
for developing the border region. Fujimori also settled unresolved issues
with Peru's southern neighbor Chile regarding El Tratado de Ancon (the Ancon
Treaty).
However, his re-election was the turning point in Fujimori's career. After
several years of economic stability and less terrorism, Peruvians now began
to turn to other concerns, such as human rights, freedom of the press, and
the return to genuine democracy; they also started paying closer attention
to the growing web of scandals surrounding Fujimori, which finally led to
his downfall in 2000.
2000 election: Despite a constitutional prohibition of a third term
of office, Fujimori insisted in declaring his candidacy for the 2000
elections. He was declared winner of the May 28 election, amidst a flurry of
accusations of irregularities. The main opposition leader, Alejandro Toledo,
campaigned vigorously to have the election annulled, but the corruption
scandal then emerging around Vladimiro Montesinos, who was the director of
Peru's National Intelligence Service (SIN), did his work for him. The
allegations severely compromised Fujimori, causing him to flee to Japan in
November, 2000. Valentín Paniagua was sworn in as interim president shortly
thereafter. In an election rerun on May 28, 2001, Toledo was elected
president in elections widely acknowledged to be clean and fair. He was
sworn in on July 28.
Anti-terrorism: Fujimori is credited by many Peruvians for ending the
fifteen-year reign of terror of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and the
arrest of its leader, Abimael Guzmán. As part of his anti-terrorism efforts,
Fujimori granted the military broad powers to arrest suspected terrorists
and try them in secret military courts with few legal rights. In addition to
many thousands of Peruvians, many of whose guilt is disputed, the American
activist Lori Berenson got caught up in this net. Guerrilla activity
declined onwards from 1992, and Fujimori claimed that his campaign had
largely eliminated the terrorist threat. While few people dispute the
results, critics point out that to achieve its ends the Peruvian military
indulged in widespread human rights abuses, and the vast majority of the
victims were poor highland campesinos caught in the crossfire between
military and the guerrillas. The ongoing investigations of the Peruvian
Truth and Reconciliation Committee reveal that while the majority of the
atrocities committed during the years 1980 to 1995 were committed by the
guerillas, the Peruvian Armed Forces are also guilty of having destroyed
villages and murdered campesinos they suspected of supporting the rebels. In
one case, fourteen members of the armed forces were tried and sentenced by a
military tribunal from three months to one year in prison for their part in
a massacre on May 14, 1988, of forty-seven men, women and children who were
killed in Cayara, in the department of Ayacucho. The massacre was in
retribution for an ambush the previous day in which a column of Senderistas
killed an army captain and three soldiers. The fourteen did not spend a day
in jail, and returned to active service.
On December 17, 1996, in one of the last major episodes of terrorism,
Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA) rebels seized the home of the
Japanese ambassador in Lima during a party, taking hostage some
eight-hundred diplomats, government officials, and dignitaries. During the
protracted standoff that lasted four months, the Emerretistas gradually
freed all but seventy-two hostages. Negotiating with the rebels, the
government rejected their key demand: the release of a number of their
comrades jailed under allegedly brutal conditions. On April 22, 1997, a team
of Peruvian military commandos stormed the building to free the hostages,
killing one hostage, two commandos, and all fourteen of the rebels in the
raid. Fujimori allowed himself to be photographed in commando gear standing
over the bodies of the dead rebels, using the incident to enhance his
reputation for toughness. But later it emerged that the government had not
negotiated in good faith; it used the four-month standoff to stall for time
in order to meticulously plan the assault. Moreover, it emerged in 2002, on
the basis of forensic investigation and testimony of witnesses that only one
of the fourteen rebels actually died in the assault; the others surrendered
peacefully but were summarily executed by the commandos by order of
Montesinos.
Before leaving office, Fujimori declared an amnesty for any members of the
Peruvian military or police convicted or accused of human rights abuses
between 1980 and 1995. His action was condemned by human rights activists
and by many other nations.
In exile: As of 2003 Fujimori is in self-imposed exile in Japan,
where he was granted citizenship because his parents registered him with
Japanese consular authorities in Peru as an infant.
On September 5, 2001 Peru's attorney general filed homicide charges against
ex-President Fujimori.
At the beginning of March, 2003, at the behest of the Peruvian government,
Interpol issued an international arrest order for Fujimori on charges that
include murder, kidnapping and crimes against humanity. "The order will be
issued worldwide for human rights crimes for which he can be pursued and
which do not expire," said Peruvian Justice Minister Fausto Alvarado. In
addition, the Toledo administration is currently preparing an extradition
request that will be sent to the Japanese government, but it is not clear
how the petition can prosper, as Peru and Japan do not have an extradition
treaty.
The former president is accused of murder in connection with the 1991
Barrios Altos massacre in which fifteen people at a barbecue in a poor
neighborhood of Lima were killed by an army death squad thought to have been
organized by Montesinos. The victims included an 8-year-old boy. Fujimori is
also accused of murder for the 1992 La Canuta massacre in which nine
students and a professor, suspected members of Shining Path, were murdered
by the same army death squad.
In September, 2003, Peruvian congressperson Dora Núñez Dávila (FIM)
denounced Fujimori and several of his ministers for crimes against humanity
because of forced sterilizations committed during his regime. According to
Núñez, the Fujimori administration initiated a family planning program with
extensive forced sterilizations in which health workers were given monthly
quotas of sterilizations to perform.
Undaunted by the denunciations and the judicial proceedings underway against
him, which he dismissed as "politically motivated", Fujimori, from Japan,
has established a new political party in Peru, Sí Cumple, to participate in
the 2006 presidential elections. However, in September 2003, the president
of the of the Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) (National Election
Commission), Manuel Sánchez Palacios Paiva, dismissed the possibility of
Fujimori participating in those elections, observing that the fugitive
ex-president was barred by the Peruvian Congress from holding office for ten
years because of abandoning his office and submitting his resignation by fax
from Japan. Critics of Fujimori believe that his new political party is more
than anything a strategy of presenting himself as a "persecuted politician"
so as to evade justice.
Fujimori remains a controversial figure in Peru. On the one hand, he is
credited for bringing stability to the country after the tumultuous García
years, and he still enjoys a small group of vociferous supporters and an
approval rating of seventeen percent in the polls. However, during his
decade in power, Fujimori also established a vast network of corruption and
patronage, unparalleled in the country's history, with the assistance of his
associate, Montesinos, currently imprisoned at the Callao naval base.
Montesinos is currently facing dozens of charges that range from
embezzlement to drug trafficking to murder, and is undergoing a lengthy
trial in Lima that is exposing the breadth and depth of corruption of the
Fujimori regime.
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